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Zoo celebrates birth of Linne’s two-toed sloth

The baby Linne’s two-toed sloth clung to mom immediately after birth and will remain attached to her almost exclusively for at least six months.

Photo courtesy of the Denver Zoo

Posted
Monday, February 5, 2018 2:35 pm

Staff report

A baby Linne’s two-toed sloth was born Jan. 28 at the Denver Zoo.

The baby, whose name has not been chosen nor its gender identified, was born to Charlotte Greenie, the zoo’s 21-year-old female sloth, and her mate, 27-year-old Elliot, according to a news release from the zoo. The baby and mom are both healthy and were expected to make their public debut Feb. 1 in their habitat in Bird World.

During her 10-month pregnancy, Charlotte was closely monitored by zoo experts with regular ultrasounds, checkups and weigh-ins to ensure she and the baby were healthy, according to a news release from the zoo. Keepers devised an innovative way to weigh Charlotte — they trained her to come to a specific branch connected to a scale.

The baby clung to Charlotte immediately after birth and will remain attached to her almost exclusively for at least six months, the zoo reports.

Charlotte came to Denver Zoo from Cleveland Metroparks Zoo in 2015.

Linne’s two-toed sloths, which are also known as the Linnaeus’s two-toed sloth or southern two-toed sloth, are found in the rainforests of South America, primarily in Venezuela, Columbia, Ecuador, Peru and Brazil. They are a nocturnal species that spend 15-20 hours per day sleeping and become active about an hour after sunset until about two hours before sunrise.

Guests of the zoo are likely get a glimpse of Charlotte and her baby in their habitat. But the view of the baby might be impaired by foliage or Charlotte’s embrace.

Linne’s two-toed sloths are among two types of sloths — two-toed and three-toed — and six species, including the pygmy three-toed, maned, pale-throated, brown-throated, and Hoffman’s. Although the Linne’s two-toed is not considered threated, two other species, the pygmy three-toed and maned, are critically endangered and vulnerable, respectively.